DDecathion india—a large format store that sells ft- ess equipment, goods and accessories for more than 70 ports—believes in person: job fit. Thus, while hinng, the passion of the person to play sports is seen as an essential {ualifieation. The selection of all possible candidates begins with playing @ team sport. Some Mary Wega enttrcom 4.2. Deseide rersonatty, the way itis ‘measured, and the factors that shape it. personality The sum of wag in hich an indvidual eet to and interadts wth others. Personality and Values CHAPTER 4 151 TT ty | P| nile | se ies Personality ‘Why are some people quiet and passive, while others are loud and aggressive? Are certain personality types better adapted than others for certain jobs? Before we can answer these questions, we need to address. a more basic one: What i personality? What Is Personality? ‘When we speak of someone's personality, we use many adjectives to describe how they act and seem to think; in fact, participants in a recent study used 624 distinct adjectives to describe people they knew.’ As organizational behavior- ists, however, we organize personality characteristics by overall traits, describing the growth and development of a person’s personality. Defining Personality For our purposes, think of personality as the sum of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. We most often describe personality in terms of the measurable traits a person exhibits. Measuring Personality Personality assessments have been increasingly used in diverse organizational settings. In India, psychometric assessments are used for recruitment and competency mapping by several companies including Cognizant, Ford Motors, Tata Motors, TVS Sundaram, Deloitte, etc. In a historic move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) mandated that in all its 19,500 affliated schools, the teaching and non-teaching staff should undergo a psychometric evaluation which tests among other things the personality measures.”® Personality tests are useful in hiring decisions and help managers forecast who is best for ajob.!! ‘The most common means of measuring petsonalit is thtouigh selEreport surveys in which individuals evaluate themselves on a series of factors, such a8 “I worry a Jot about the future.” In general, when people know their personality scores are152 PART 2 Career OBjectives How do I ace the personality test? | just landed a second-round inter- usually appear across several items. you have @ good, honest match, you ‘view with a great company, and I’m If you respond in the most favorable can arrive for your first day confident ‘super excited. And super nervous way to a long list of items, then you and ready for success. because I've read a few articles might pop up on the lie scale. ‘about how more and more compa. Second, high scores on every trait your chances of getting hired by niles are using personality testing. are not desirable for every kind of job. responding to a personality test in a Do you have tips for how | can put Some employers might be more inter- favorable manne. However, we still my best foot forward? Dear Lavisha: Congratulations! ts natural for you to good predictor of job performance for Davison, and’. Sues, “Kenton \wart to understand the tests your pro jobs that are competitive in nature FramecfReference txts in Persona spective employer uses. Youve probably (sales, coach, trader. Noe ae ee deduced that its possible to respond in Tid there is an etical perspective natonelouma ef Satin and Asootere 4 favorable manner. For example, if a you should consider. How are you going 22,2 (2014); 165-T8:BR, Sackett and Staten says, lamas pepted” to fel ene you ate te zanzatin 27 Noa. Which Posmay tats you know that employers are looking for if you have not represented yourself ‘gots en Pll Sse n05 ‘an applicant who agrees with this state- correctly in the hiring process? What is (2014): $38-51: and L Weber, “To Get a ‘ment. You might think respondingin the your general ene Eirer Howarerearrree a eee etl ‘most farrable way possible increases ae you going to make sure your beha- Your chences of geting hited, ard you fr fils the tralts you ted to portray? The epnions proved here are of te might be rit. There are a fen caveats, how at the assessment different, The SD&, fr ony errors or omissions, or fever, First. some companies build omganization—and you—should be of ths information. in no eet wil te in “lle scales" that flag individuals looking for a good match. Hf you are authors or their related partnerships who respond to statements in an not a good match and ae hired, you % Salons thereof te fade to you extremely favorable manner. i's not are Thely to be unsvocessful, and act aken i relate the metas always easy to detect them, but ues miserable in the process. However, Brvited her, The Individual going (0 be used for hiring decisions, they rate themselves as about halla staneued deviation more conscientious and emotionally stable than if they are taking th test to lean more about themselves." Another problem is accuracy. a candidate who is int bad mood when taking the survey may have inaccurate scores." Research indicates that culture influences the way we rate ourselves, People in individualistic countries trend toward selfenhancement, while people in collectivist countries like India, Taiwan, China, and South Korea trend toward selfdiminishment. Selfenbancement does not appear to harm a person's career in individualistic countries, but it does in collecti humility is valued, Under cat countries, where rating (selfdiminishment) amay harm a person's in both collectivistic and individualistic communities." Observersratings surveys provide an independent assessment of personality. Here, a coworker or another observer does the rating. Though the results of self-reports and observer-ratings surveys are strongly correlated, research sug. gests that observer-ratings surveys predict job success more than self-ratings alone.!> However, each can tell us something unique about an individual's In the end, you might increase ested in low scores on a particular think honesty is the best policy—for — Lavisha trait or pay more attention to a total you and for your future employer! profile that would be hard to “game.” For example, agreeableness is not 2 Soiree Based on MN Bing, He K Valicty in an Organizational Seting,”iner- ‘re Most important inthe Workplace?” Per ‘Street urna, Aor 15,2015, A1,A40. Finally, perhaps you should look 2uthors ony. The authors are not respor- for te resus obiained fam the use fr anyone eise for any decision made orheredity Factors dotermined at conception; aces bolopeal, Dysiologice, and inherent psyehologial makeup, Energetic, charsmatc, decisive, ambos, adaptabe, courageous, and industrious are personaly traits used 19 describe Richard Branson, founder ofVign Group. These traits helped Branson, shown here promotig Virgin Trains, build one of the most recognized and respected gobal brands in tevel, entertainment, and lnestye. Sou oe Pee ROW meges Personality and Values CHAPTER 4 = 153 behavior so a combination of selfreponts aad abserver reports predicts pe formance better than any one ype of information, The implication is clea: Use both observer ratings and selF-xeport ratings of personality when important employment decisions ing Personality Determinants An carly debate centered on whether an individual's Personality isthe resull of heredity or enviroumenit. Personality appears to he a result of both; however, research tends to support the importance of heredity over environment. Heredity refers to factors determined at conception. Physical stature, facial features, gender, temperament, muscle competion and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythins ae either completely or substantially influenced by parentage—by your biological parents’ biological, physiological, and inherent Psychological makeup, The heredity approach angues thatthe ultimate explanation of an individual's personality isthe molecu structure of the genes, which are located on the chromosomes. A review of 134 studies found that there is some truth to this approach, with about 40 percent of personality being attributable to heredity und the other 60 percent attributable to the environment!" This is not to suggest that personality never changes. People’s scores on dependability tend to increase over time, as when young adulls start families and establish careers. However, strong individual differences in dependability remain; everyone tends to change by about the same amount, so their rank order stays roughly the same." Furthermore, personality is more changeable in adolescence and more stable among adulis."" Early work on personality tried to identify and label enduring characte: istics that describe an individual's behavior, including shy, aggressive, sub- missive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid. When someone frequently exhibits these characteristics and they are relatively enduring over time and across154 PART 2. The Individual personality tats Covunng charactenstes thal dese an indent’ beta: 4.3, eset srengs ‘and weaknesses ofthe Myers Briggs Type Incator (MBM) persona framework and the Big Five model ‘Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBI) | personality test tat taps four characterises and classifies people «to one of seen personaty types. situations, we call them personality traits."" The more consistent the charac: teristic over time and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important the trait isin describing the individual Personality Frameworks Throughout history, people have sought to understand what makes individu. als behave in different ways, Many of ou bebavions stent from our personal ties, so understanding the components of personality helps us predict behavior Important theoretical frameworks and assessment tools help ts categorize and study the dimensions of personality, ‘The most widely used and best known pervonality frameworks are the Myers Briggs Type indicator (MBT!) and the Big Five Personality Model. Both describe a person's total personality through exploration of the facets of per: sonality. Other frameworks, such as the Dark Triad, explain certain aspects, but not the total, of an individual's personality, We discuss each below, but let's begin with the dominant frameworks. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ‘The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most widely used personality assessment instruments in the world.” Itis a 100 Performance ‘* More flexible ond autonomous ‘+ Enhanced leadership “ Betir liked ‘* Higher performance | Agreeableness —» *More compliant and —> * lower levels of deviont conforming behavior * Grealer effort and persistence ‘* Higher performance 1i 158 -PART2. The Individual Dark Tad A constelation of negative personaly its consisting ‘of Machiavelianism,narcsis, and pychopalhy. demands, may experience burnout." These people algo tend to experience work-family conflict, which can affect work outcomes." Given these negative, straining, effects, ncurotic employees are more likely to engage in CWBs, less likely to engage in OCBs, and less likely to be motivated at work. Extraversion at Work People with extraverted personality traits tend to perform ‘well in jobs that require interpersonal interaction, They are socially dominant, “take charge” people who are usually more assertive than introverts."" Extra version is a relatively strong predictor of leadership emergence and behaviors in groups.” Extraverts also tend to have generally high job satisfaction and reduced burnout Some negatives are that extraverts can appear to be self aggrandizing,egoisti, or oo dominating and that their social behavior can be disadvantageous for jobs that do not require frequent social interaction." Openness at Work Open people tend to be the most creative and innovative compared with the other traits." Open people are more likely to be effective leaders and more comfortable with ambiguity—they cope better with organiza- tional change and are more adaptable.” While openness isn't related to initial performance on a job, individuals higher in openness are less susceptible to a decline in performance over a a longer time period.” Open people also exper: ence less work-family conflict. Agreeableness at Work Agrecable individuals are better liked than disagreeable people; they should perform well in interpersonally oriented jobs such as customer service. They experience less work-family conflict and are less susceptible to tumover.* They also contribute to organizational performance by engaging in OCB.™ Disagreeable people, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in CWBs, as are people low in conscientiousness.™ Agreeableness is associated with lower levels of career success, perhaps because highly agreeable people consider themselves less marketable and are less willing to assert themselves. In general, the Big Five personality factors appear in almost all cross-cultural studies," including studies in China, India, Israel, Germany, Japan, Spain, Nigeria, Nonway, Pakistan, and the United States. However, a study of illiterate indigenous people in Bolivia suggested that the Big Five framework may be les applicable when studying the personalities of small, remote groups.” Research indicates that the Big Five traits have the most verifiable links to important organizational outcomes, but they are not the only traits a person exhibits, nor are they the only ones with OB implications. Let’s discuss some other traits, known collectively as the Datk Triad. The Dark Triad Outside the Big Five framework, researchers have identified three other socially ‘undesirable traits, which we all have in varying degrees, are also relevant to orga- nizational behavior: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Because of their negative nature, researchers have labeled these the Dark Triad—though they do not always occur together.** ‘The Dark Triad may sound sinister, but these traits are not clinical patholo- gies hindering everyday functioning. They might be expressed particularly strongly when an individual is under stress and unable to moderate any inap- Propriate responses. Sustained high levels of dark personality tats can cause individuals to derail their careers and personal lives.”